One of my good friends told me she could not come to my dinner party, and it was all that I could do not to ask her why. I could not believe that she could not come. Should I have asked her why she was unavailable?

Poet and educator Lauren Zuniga is the author of several collections, and her work has been popularized on www.upworthy.com and www.moveon.org. She is a three-time international poetry slam finalist and director of literary arts at Oklahoma City’s SixTwelve community space.

[brightcove]4109563263001[/brightcove] Coleman Clark and Terri Benear talk about the history of B.C. Clark and about the inventory in the stores for entertaining on Parties Extra! Coleman Clark, Terri Benear and The Oklahoman’s video producer Paige Dillard. (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace).

“Run All Night,” in which Ed Harris stars opposite Liam Neeson, is a stark revenge saga set in some of New York’s grittier precincts and pitting two old-school Irish mobsters, notorious “Westies,” in a life-or-death face-off, according to imdb.com.